Lesson 1: Welcome and Overview

Course Preparation

Here are a few things you can do to prepare for the course. 

We are looking forward to meeting all of you online in the Reiki Level 1 workshop/training!

Reminders:

*** Please ensure that we have the correct address to mail out your manual!  Simply log into your Insight Global course dashboard and ensure it is updated.  We will send you a quick email to confirm prior to mailing it out!***

• Download the zoom.us application

• Watch the Zoom Tutorial on how to Join a Meeting

• Here is another good tutorial on how to use Zoom.  For beginners.

• Practice using Zoom prior to class

• You will need a computer, tablet or Smartphone with audio and video

1. The class is all day (9-4), if you are on a tablet or Smartphone it is recommended that you plug them into a charger and consider placing them on a tripod.

2. Balance Due: If you have a balance due, please pay the balance one week before class to save class time.

3. Manual: Your manual, Reiki: The Healing Touch, will be mailed to you within 10-15 days of your course purchase (depending on where we are mailing it to!).  We will be reaching you to you to confirm your shipping address before mailing.

4. Class time: 9:00AM to 4:00PM PT each day. Please come early to get setup with your technology and to make your comfortable.

5. Lunch & Breaks: 1-hour lunch and multiple breaks will be provided from 12pm - 1pm PT. Please return promptly after the breaks and lunch.

6. Preparation: Dress comfortably; be in a private area where you won’t be disturbed during class, use the restroom before class and during breaks.  If you have children, make sure there is someone to take care of them and notify everyone in your household that you are not to be disturbed during the workshop hours. If you do not have childcare, please inform the instructor, as we are willing to accommodate you.

7. Seating: You may sit on the floor or in a chair, please ensure that you are comfortable. You can sit on a yoga mat or a cushion/old rug.

8. Ambience:  If you have an oil lamp, keep this lit and next to you during all sessions.  (Optional), you can also use incense to clear your space prior to the session (we will also be clearing the space with Reiki in the session).

9. Recommended to have on hand:Reiki ManualNotebook/journal, penEar budsWater/snackMusic –sample links (Julie True, Calamaria by Joe Tinajero on Amazon, YouTube, Spotify, personal calm music)Blanket/pillow/comfort items

Online Student Attendance Requirements and Etiquette Guidelines

• Plan to have someone else take care of the kids and pets

• Plan to attend the entire class

• Participate in all activities

• Use video during the entire class time.

• Behave as if you are in an in-person class.

• If you would not do something in person, don’t do it online.

• Refrain from doing other things online during class, such as checking email, texting, getting up and wandering around.

• Refrain from moving around while on video. It is distracting for others.

• You will be sent the Zoom meeting information one day prior to the class. In addition, if your class balance is NOT complete the day before the class, you will not receive the Zoom link.

• On the day of this course, please log into this course to access zoom.

Reflection & Course Goals

As we begin our journey together, now is the time to celebrate and thank yourself for saying yes to this life-changing experience. You have already taken the biggest step of enrolling in this course, and your intentions will unfold with grace and ease.

Remember that you have our support and guidance help you with every aspect of the training. Whether you are taking this course to deepen your own healing practice or to help a loved one, you will experience wonderful shifts within yourself as your consciousness expands.

As Albert Einstein famously said, “No problem can ever be solved at the level of awareness at which it was created.” We can only find solutions to our individual and collective problems by expanding to a level of awareness that is higher than the level at which the problems were created. By expanding our awareness through meditation, we transform ourselves as we transform the world.

Reflection Questions                                                                                            

We invite you to reflect:

• What are your goals for taking this course?

• How can you best organize your time to ensure you get the most out of this course?

• What impact do you hope to make on others as you expand your own knowledge?

The Attunement (Placement)

Reiki is not taught in the way other healing techniques are taught.  It is transferred to the student by the Reiki Master during an  attunement process. This process opens the crown, heart, and palm  chakras and creates a special link between the student and the Reiki  source.

The Reiki attunement is a powerful spiritual experience. The  attunement energies are channeled into the student through the Reiki  Master. The process is guided by the Rei or God-consciousness and makes  adjustments in the process depending on the needs of each student. The  attunement is also attended by Reiki guides and other spiritual beings  who help implement the process. Many report having mystical experiences  involving personal messages, healings, visions, and past life  experiences.

The attunement can also increase psychic sensitivity. Students often  report experiences involving: opening of the third eye, increased  intuitive awareness, and other psychic abilities after receiving a Reiki  attunement.

Once you have received a Reiki attunement, you will have Reiki for  the remainder of your life. It does not wear off and you can never lose  it. While one attunement is all you need for each level to be attuned to  that level, additional attunements bring benefit. Experimentation has  found that additional attunements of the same level add to the value of  that level. These benefits include refinement of the Reiki energy one is  channeling, increased strength of the energy, healing of personal  problems, clarity of mind, increased psychic sensitivity, and a raised  level of consciousness. 

The Reiki attunement can start a cleansing process that affects the  physical body as well as the mind and emotions. Toxins that have been  stored in the body may be released along with feelings and thought  patterns that are no longer useful. Therefore, a process of purification  prior to the attunement is recommended to improve the benefit one  receives. See below for specific instructions on preparing for an  attunement.

To use Reiki you need to be attuned.  An attunement is a traditional spiritual ceremony that helps you to connect to the  Reiki Energy Source. It’s a new rebirth. Many things may or may not happen during  and after an attunement.  An attunement is awareness of our self-empowerment.  The attunement is all you need to use Reiki energy in your own life and for those  around you. A Reiki Master Teacher does this attunement.

What will happen after my Reiki Attunement?

• Your Chakras are opened and you are connected to the Reiki Source

•  You are able to channel Reiki through your hands to yourself or others by your
  link to the Reiki Source

• You will become increasingly aware of what you need to do in regards to your
  healing

• You may become more intuitive and psychic

• Further changes will manifest in your life that are needed and are distinctive to
  you

• You are able to manifest what you need in your life at a faster pace.

• Your Reiki healing energy will flow at a stronger and higher vibration.

• Your Reiki awareness will continue to expand with your experience and
  progress.

• You will have the use of three powerful Reiki Symbols.

• You will know when to use them!

• You will be able to send Reiki to the past, the present and the future.

• You will become more aware of the intensity flow and the power of Reiki.

Some students find that after receiving their attunements, they can sense the energy flowing through their hands at different times.  If you do not sense the energy right away that is completely okay.  Remember our body is only able to perceive a fraction of the energy that is around us.  You may also find that your hands emanate energy when they are around people who need Reiki.  Over time you will get adjusted to sensations and may find that the feelings shift over time.  

Your bodymind will also begin clearing and releasing energy that is stagnant and no longer serving your highest good.  The Reiki attunment has a powerful healing influence on the mind body and spirit, activating all chakras.  You may not feel significant shifts right away.  If you do feel some releases, surrender and know that your body is preparing you for healing and to be able to channel Reiki energy which is a higher level of frequency.  

When you release the stored energy that is blocking the flow of energy through you, your body can be a clear conduit for healing.  You may experience minor symptoms of physical cleansing, and detoxification.  Although some people call this a healing crisis, it is different because in this case, your body is choosing what to balance and shift.  Nothing outside of you is forcing change.  Your body will release dissonant energy including stored beliefs and memories that no longer serve you.  

It is important that you perform a daily self treatment.  You will also want to meditate daily.  Drinking water will also help the process flow smoothly.  Do not try to assess or analyze the process.  By accepting emotions as they arise as a part of your personal healing process and not attaching a great deal of importance to them, they will soon pass.  

The attunements will attune you to Reiki energy.  Using it is a skill you will develop.  Although you have access to it, your ability to be a conduit for it will grow with practice.  After your ceremony, you will want to  perform a self-treatment each day, ideally twice a day.  When you are ready, you can begin to perform Reiki on others, but ensure you keep up your daily self treatments.  

Important note: Reiki is not sent or directed, it is always drawn in by the recipient through the practitioner.  Because the practitioner is focusing on BEING rather than DOING, they are not using their own personal energy and will leave the session feeling energized from the Reiki that was drawn through them.  This is why in Reiki the practitioners do not feel the condition of the recipient they are working with.  

A Healing Crisis

The bottom line with a healing crisis is that your body on a cellular level is releasing what does not serve your highest good.  When your body needs to physically eliminate, we do not hesitate and allow the process to occur.  We understand that this process is natural and necessary.  We need to understand this as well on an energetic level.  

So What Can You Do?

• Meditate: This will help to process the energy you are releasing.  The emotions you have been storing need to be acknowledged and transmuted.  

• Stay hydrated:  Water helps your cells function, this includes helping them release the storage.

• Breathe:  We process emotions through our diaphragm and when energy comes up we need to ensure we are consciously breathing.  

• Surrender:  Trust.

• Be Gentle: Rest if you need to rest.  Be alone if you need to be along, honor that.

• Self-Treatments:  Perform Reiki on yourself every day.  Allow Reiki to help you process the changes.  

* Please keep in mind that symptoms do not last usually longer than a few days and are fairly mild.  If your symptoms continue to worsen you should seek medical care.  

Preparing for an Attunement (Placement)

*Note: Below are recommendations not requirements, the more you put into the cleanse, the more you will get out :)

In order to improve the results you receive during the attunement, a  process of purification is recommended. This will allow the attunement  energies to work more efficiently and create greater benefits for you.  The following steps are optional. Follow them if you feel guided to do  so.

1. Refrain from eating meat, fowl or fish for three days prior to the attunement. These foods often contain drugs in the form of penicillin and female hormones and toxins in the form of pesticides and heavy metals that make your system sluggish and throw it out of balance.

2. Consider a water or juice fast for one to three days especially if you already are a vegetarian or have experience with fasting.  If you can, have meals only twice a day.  The first meal should be after 12 pm. No snacks and beverages between the two meals.

3. If you can, increase the percentage of raw foods in your diet.  You can experiment by introducing 40% raw food into your diet at least 7 days before the program.  See video here.

4. Recipes you can experiment with:Ashgourd-Pomegranate SaladCarrot-Apple-Date SaladCooling Ash Gourd JuiceCucumber-Moong SaladGroundnut-Banana Shake9 Epic Salad Ideas

5. Minimize your use of coffee and caffeine drinks or stop completely. They create imbalances in the nervous and endocrine systems. Use no caffeine drinks on the day of the attunement.

6. Use no alcohol or intoxicants for at least three days prior to the attunement.

7. Minimize or stop using sweets. Eat no chocolate.

8. If you smoke, cut back, and smoke as little as possible on the day of the attunement.

9. Meditate an hour a day for a least a week using a style you are familiar with or simply spend this time in silence.  If you can not do an hour, try to start with 30 minutes.

10. Reduce or eliminate time watching TV, listening to the radio, and reading newspapers.

11. Go for quiet walks, spend time with nature, and get moderate exercise.

12. Be in touch with the elements:Earth - gardening or walking barefoot on the soil for around 30 minutes a dayWater - storing and drinking water from a copper vessel, or store it overnight (do not drink directly from the tap).  Give reverence to your water before you drink it as it provides you with life.  Wind - exposure to wind for 10-15 minutes/day.Fire - lighting an oil lamp and keeping it by you during meditation or being around a fire every day will help.  Space - bowing down to the sky three times a day - after sunrise, after the sun crosses 30 degrees, and after sunset.  (And thank the universe for holding you in place on this planet!)

13. Give more attention to the subtle impressions and sensations within and around; contemplate their meaning.

14. Take a bath or shower twice a day.  Try to not use any soaps that contain chemicals, as they will affect the pranic body.  Homemade herbal bathing powder is an option (see recipe below).

15. Release all anger, fear, jealousy, hate, worry, etc. up to the light. Create a sacred space within and around you.

16. By receiving an attunement you will become part of a group of people who are using Reiki to heal themselves, and each other, and who are working together to heal the Earth. You will also be receiving help from Reiki guides and other spiritual beings who are also working towards these goals. While Reiki is not a religion, you may prepare your mind with intention work and pray in a religious mode comfortable to you to prepare to open to higher spiritual energies and experiences.

17. Clothing - during preparation and the program, it is recommended to wear lose fitting white clothes, preferably made of cotton or other natural fibers.  

18. Music for the attunement.  If you can have the following music ready on a separate device, it would be extremely helpful.  Reiki Playlist

Can Reiki Classes Be Taught Online?              

by William Lee Rand

Until a year ago, I did not think that teaching Reiki classes at a distance or online was something I would be doing. This is because I did not think that the energy needed to do this was available to support this form of teaching to make the classes as effective as teaching in person. However, after the COVID-19 virus pandemic became a problem, I began researching this subject, and I discovered information and had experiences that gave me a different perspective.

However, first, let me give you a little background. I moved to Hawaii in 1975, and at that time, as still now, I had a keen interest in metaphysics and personal development. I had studied several forms of healing and also worked with a Hawaiian Kahuna for a year. Because of this interest, I was led to Reiki and was initiated into Reiki I in 1981 and then to Reiki II in 1982 by Bethel Phaigh, who had received her Reiki training, including Mastership from Mrs. Takata. I also had the good fortune to have met and had discussions about Reiki with Harry Kuboi, and Beth Gray, who also received their Master training from Mrs. Takata. 

After I received the Reiki I attunements, I went for a walk by myself, and the energy spoke to me; by this, I mean that the energy gives me intuitive impressions. The Reiki energy told me it is an energy that can be developed. And as I contemplated this idea, I understood more clearly that it is an energy that has a greater potential than what most people at that time were making use of, and that it is possible to develop one's ability through the guidance of the Reiki energy to channel ever higher and more effective qualities of this energy. It appears to be a process that the higher levels of Reiki energy understand and know how to develop in those who seek it.

Because the Reiki energy told me this, I was motivated to pursue this possibility, and in my pursuit, I requested that this development would happen not just for myself, but asked that the guidance I was given would lead to developing a system that could be shared with others.

In addition, the Japanese Reiki master, Hiroshi Doi, with whom I have also taken the Reiki Master training, and who is a member of the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai (the organization Usui started after he discovered Reiki), obtained notes from one of Usui Sensei's students who attended one of Usui's classes. The notes state that Usui Sensei taught that the most important task for a Reiki student to undertake was to continually seek to increase the quality and quantity of the Reiki energy one can channel. This indicates that Usui Sensei understood that there are higher and more effective levels of Reiki energy that are possible to discover, and that it is our responsibility as Reiki practitioners to seek to make use of this higher potential.

Also, the Kahuna I had worked with said he had studied with nine other Kahuna's and that the way of Huna is always to be a student and request guidance in one's quest to find appropriate teachers who would add to one's understanding. So, following this learning style, and knowing that each Reiki Master has unique experiences and has gained important knowledge and skills from the Reiki energy, I was guided to study with five Reiki Masters, including two from Japan. I found that while much of their knowledge and methods were similar, each had an additional understanding that the others did not have. So, this method of studying with more than one Reiki Master also increased my understanding of Reiki.

In the last several years, I had the good fortune to meet Robert Fueston, a Reiki Master who is a member of the Reiki Alliance. The Reiki Alliance was formed by the Reiki Masters whom Mrs. Takata trained after she passed on in 1980. Robert is a Reiki researcher and explained his research philosophy to me. It included several points that I found commendable. First, he wanted to get accurate information about how Mrs. Takata taught and practiced by interviewing the Master students Mrs. Takata trained that were still living. Second, he wanted to present the information as accurately and honestly as he could. In 2017, he published his book titled The History and System of Usui Shiki Reiki Ryoho. I have read his book, and he did an excellent job explaining the results of his research.

In this book, on page 298, there is information showing that when it was necessary, Mrs. Takata taught students at a distance through letters and phone calls and by using what she called remote initiations. For example, she gave remote initiations when the student was in the hospital or was far away and in obvious need. Robert also includes a copy of a letter handwritten by Mrs. Takata to a student in which she explains that she will be giving the initiations to this student at a distance and indicates she does this sort of teaching when the conditions require it. There is further information that she did Reiki Initiations remotely in material Robert received from Marta Getty, another of Mrs. Takata's Reiki Masters.

It was with this understanding, that in March and April 2020, I sought a solution for teaching Reiki classes when the COVID-19 virus made in-person Reiki classes no longer possible. I meditated with the Reiki energy and asked it for guidance. I also asked for help from Usui, Hayashi, Mrs. Takata, and other spiritual Masters with whom I am familiar. As part of this process, I sent them Reiki and asked them to return it to me with the energy necessary to solve the problem that the virus had created for teaching Reiki classes. I did this with one of my Reiki students, Colleen Benelli, an excellent clairvoyant healer. And during this process, we received an initiation directly from this group that gave us the ability to teach Reiki classes online.

To verify that it did work, I followed my guidance to create a Reiki class that would upgrade a Reiki Masters ability to teach Reiki classes online. I taught the class and then asked the students to indicate what they experienced and if, when they taught online, they also received verification from their students that it worked.

We began teaching and in the first class were students who had been teaching Reiki Masters for many years and therefore were experienced healers. After taking the class, they indicate that the online class worked very well, and the energy was even stronger than their previous in-person classes! I know this may seem to go against what many think they understand about Reiki, but the results prove it is true. And many of them wrote comments about what they experienced in class. Read their comments.

Since then, I have taught all my classes in this new online style. And in fact, the students are very happy about what they are receiving, and they too have continued to teach their Reiki classes online and get similar results.

This development is a solution for two of the serious problems that COVID-19 has created: The Reiki energy strengthens the immune system, helping people avoid getting sick or recovering faster and with less illness if they get sick, and teaching Reiki classes online provides a safe source of income during a time when many are out of work, and the economy is in a recession.

I believe it is important to trust in the guidance of the Reiki energy and follow the guidance one gets. Therefore, if a person is considering if this is a class that would be beneficial to take, I suggest they meditate on it and ask for guidance from the Reiki energy. Then follow the guidance they receive.

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